Bumble at Rosaryville

RouteGadget is now available for your Bumble (beige to blue) course, and also separately, for white, yellow and orange Rosaryville courses.

Flickr photo album for event is here.

What a fun and fabulous day! The 12th annual Bumble went off without a hitch! More than 200 people attended the meet, with about 75 participating in the Mass Start. The competition was on, and the race handicaps worked as intended (people running at their skill level often crossed the finish at the same time as someone with a higher handicap.) Congratulations to Boryana Peeva for taking the "gold"; and being the first female and overall mass start competitor to finish. After fully recovering from a broken ankle last year, she pushed hard to complete her beige course in 49:07. She selected window #4 and visited the controls as follows: PRSTQ. Just behind her came our longtime, reigning Bumble champ, Peggy Dickison finishing her brown course in 50:14. She visited window #4 first in this order QPRST then headed to window #1 in this order EDCAB.

Once again, we saw Greg Lennon cinch the win as the first male finish. Greg completed the brown course in 55:25. His windows mimicked Peggy’s exactly. The fastest male on Blue was Will Hubsch, BUT thanks to snagging the lanyard in Window #1, control D, Chris Gross got the 3-minute time bonus to nudge Will out and take first place on Blue with an adjusted time of 95:11. Strategy pays off!

Diana Aleksieva, a U.S. Orienteering Team member, did not disappoint and took First Female on Red with a time of 112:01. Other time bonus winners included: Glen Pastel window #2, control J; Elina Breton, Window #3, control L; Wyatt Riley, Window #4, control U, and the team of Megan Introna and Nathan Palmer, Window #5, control T. And what did the mystery message say?

1. Wish
2. The
3. Ravens
4. Were in the
5. Superbowl

QOC’s fun events would not be possible without the hard work of many dedicated individuals. Below are the shout outs to all of those who helped ensure the Bumble was a grand success. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

PRE-EVENT SUPPORT:

• As MD VPs, Craig Shelden and Mike Newman provided great support to secure the park permit, coordinate with park officials, procure our port-a-johns (very important!!), create an awesome volunteer recruiting tool, and keep all ducks in a row!
• Greg Lennon for website updating, setting up a somewhat more complicated pre-registration form and sending emails and notifications to club members.
• Kathleen Lennon for spreading the word via social media.
• Sharmagh Yepremian for arranging the post-event meet-up.
• Valerie Meyer for formatting, printing, and bagging all the maps as well as running epunch along with Amy Louden who gets to every meet early to set up the epunch station. Amy also brings yummy homemade treats for all competitors to enjoy after their course.

DAY OF VOLUNTEERS:

• Jody and Cecilia Landers VERY kindly arrived early to deliver the meet kit and help with set up in the morning.
• Lending a hand with set up (including inflating the very photogenic Bumble) and overseeing Parking was Pat McNeilly. He was joined by Richard Briggs and together they directed cars to line up in a very effective format.
• Harry Jones and Stephanie Coffin did a wonderful job setting up registration and with assistance during peak time from Dave Levine. Dan Lathrop took over registration after assisting Heidi and David at the Mass Start and taking photos.
• Don Fish was on hand to welcome participants and answer miscellaneous questions.
• Steve Camp and Erin Brandt provided instruction for beginners to ensure they had a great time on their course.
• Turk Ozerol, Ted Good, Lydia Andrews, and Cecilia Landers pitched in with event clean up including deflating the Bumble.
• Francielo Dalla Costa, Michael Dickey, Chris Gross, Alex Merka, Stephen Pepe, Jon Torrance, and Howie Weinstein wrapped up the event by picking up the controls. Francielo also took pictures throughout the day.

Thank you again for joining us for this special annual event. 2025 will be the “lucky 13” Bumble. Start training now.

All the best,
- Heidi and David Onkst